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Page 83 - Tarpans are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour invariably tan, Isabella, or mouse, being all shades of the same livery, and only varying in depth by the growth or decrease of a whitish surcoat, longer than the hair, increasing from midsummer and shedding in May: during the cold season it is long, heavy, and soft, lying so close as to feel like a bear's fur, and then is entirely grizzled; in summer much falls away, leaving only a certain quantity on the back and loins : the head is small,...

Page 83 - Kusneh, and on the hanks of the river Tom, in the territory of the Kalkas, the Mongolian deserts, and the solitudes of the Gobi : within the Russian frontier, there are, however, some adulterated herds in the vicinity of the fixed settlements, distinguishable by the variety of their colours and a selection of residence less remote from human habitations. " Real Tarpans are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour invariably tan, Isabella, or mouse, being all shades of the same livery, and only...

Page 154 - It is now clear that for many centuries before the Arabs ever owned a horse, all the Libyan tribes possessed a most notable breed, which in size, shape, speed, colour, and docility, very closely resembled the Kohl breed of Arabia. As it has been shown that Egypt was exporting horses into Asia Minor in the time of Solomon, and that Arab tradition points to Egypt as the region from whence the best horses were obtained in the time of Muhammad, and as Egypt derived her horses in great part from Libya,...

Page 73 - ... served in the refectory of that monastery, one refers to the flesh of wild horses, which must therefore have been eaten by the pious brethren. An old German proverb says : " A foal taken from a herd of wild horses will sooner be tamed than a depraved man learn to be ashamed." In the " Sachsen-spiegel," where it treats of women's outfit and dowry, it is decreed that wild horses which have not always been guarded shall not be reckoned as part of such property. In a Westphalian document of 1316,...

Page 84 - ... beset with bristles, the neck rather thin, crested with a thick rugged mane, which, like the tail, is black, as also the pasterns, which are long: the hoofs are narrow, high, and rather pointed; the tail, descending only to the hocks, is furnished with coarse and rather curly or wavy hairs close up to the crupper; the croup...

Page 83 - ... young stallions are often at some distance, and single, because they are expelled by the older until they can form a troop of young mares of their own ; their heads are seldom observed to be down for any length of time : they utter now and then a kind of snort, with a low neigh, somewhat like...

Page 69 - According to Hindu legends, the horse was created a winged animal, one that could fly and run, and no man or god could snare it. Indra wanted horses for his chariots, and requested the sage Salihotra to deprive the horses of their wings. Accordingly Salihotra, by means of yoga, a supernatural power, derived from his austerities, accomplished Indra's wish.

Page 82 - Kalmucks, and with a sufficient recollection of the statements of Pallas, and Buffon's information obtained from M. Sanchez, to direct the questions to most of the points at issue. From the answers of Russian officers of this irregular cavalry, who spoke French or German, we drew the general conclusion of their decided belief in a true wild and untameable species of horse2, and in herds that were of mixed origin.

Page 134 - the produce principally of the Shire counties in the heart of England," was, to some extent, experimented upon by Bakewell. But the development of the breed belongs to a later date than the first half of the Victorian era, and it is as a draught-horse that the Shire has been, since 1879, patronised by Societies and enrolled in stud-books. It has been said that while the...

Page 61 - ... horn-like projections have been observed on the frontal bones of the horse: in one case described by Mr. Percivall they arose about two inches above the orbital processes, and were 'very like those in a calf from five to six months old,' being from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length.